The Disney Couple With the Biggest Age Difference Is 8 Years Apart
Flynn Rider and Rapunzel make up one of the strongest couples from Disney’s animated films. While Flynn Rider’s age is not specified in Tangled, it turns out the character is 26 years old in the movie, giving Flynn Rider and Rapunzel the largest age gap of any Disney couple.
The movie premiered in 2010
Disney released Tangled in November 2010. Mandy Moore starred as Rapunzel, Zachary Levi played Flynn Rider, and Donna Murphy was cast as Mother Gothel. The movie is loosely based off of the fairy tale Rapunzel by the Brothers Grimm.
The film was scored by Alan Menken and went on to be nominated for Best Original Song at the 83rd Academy Awards. The movie’s success also inspired a short film titled Tangled Ever After and a TV series called Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure.
On Rotten Tomatoes, Tangled earned a critic score of 89 percent. The critic consensus reads: “While far from Disney’s greatest film, Tangled is a visually stunning, thoroughly entertaining addition to the studio’s classic animated canon.”
RELATED: How Old Are the Disney Princesses?
Rapunzel and Flynn Rider have the biggest age difference of any Disney couple
The main plot of Tangled focuses on Rapunzel wanting to see lanterns released on her 18th birthday, not realizing she is the person the lanterns honor each year.
Rapunzel meets Flynn Rider towards the beginning of the film, and he agrees to act as her guide and take her to see the lanterns. The two first meet when Rapunzel is only 17 years old, and she turns 18 during the movie. The two fall in love and won over fans around the world for the way they encouraged each other to follow their dreams and put their own lives at risk to protect each other.
While Flynn Rider’s age is not specified in the film, animators confirmed that the character is 26 years old. This means Rapunzel and Flynn Rider have an age difference of 8 years, the largest of any Disney couple.
Some fans are not keen on the age difference
In today’s modern society, Rapunzel and Flynn Rider’s age difference would be placed under scrutiny given the fact Rapunzel is only a teenager in Tangled. Online, some fans have voiced their opinion that learning about Flynn Rider’s actual age has made them like the couple less.
“Learning about their age difference really creeped me out. For personal reasons, but mainly because of how naive and inexperienced Rapunzel is. Had she been more like the earlier drafts of the story, I’d probably be more comfortable with it, but as is, I’m a bit unnerved. There’s also the fact that I just can’t buy Flynn’s attraction toward Rapunzel (I can see her attraction to him though) : why would such a worldly, jaded guy fall for a girl who had never left her house?” A Tumblr user wrote. “I have nothing against legal age gaps in relationships… but Flynn and Rapunzel’s really skirts on my comfort levels.”
While Rapunzel is young, all of the Disney princesses are teenagers except for Elsa, who is 21 years old in Frozen. Snow White is the youngest Disney princess at 14 years old, and Jasmine is only 15 years old in Aladdin.
